Jul 03, 2005 10:39 AM
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(Updated Jul 03, 2005 06:57 PM)
This is to honour Rachit Vats’s request for a review on a four-wheeler. Remember, this one is my 81st review after the 100th and your birth was in the 81st year of the 20th century. It is an interesting coincidence, right?
The TATA Sumo has been present on Indian roads for the past decade or so. Among the SUVs commonly available then, the Sumo was easily the most comfortable and luxurious, if you call it that. May be it was this reason, but Sumo reigned the SUV market for quite a while, competing stiffly with the evergreen Trax (that comes with Rolls Royce engines). The Scorpio has taken over now, but the Sumo continues to remain present noticeably.
Appearance
There is no showmanship about TATA Sumo. It is a very straightforward looking jeep. It lacks in the robust and extreme masculinity of the Commander and is nowhere as inviting or appealing as Scorpio. With two rectangular headlights in the front, the Sumo gives the impression of an animal of labour; unimpressive, unattractive but highly capable and unstoppable. Considering its poor looks and good stamina, I’d rather call it a ‘donkey’ vehicle. Nice, eh?
Performance
You can trust Sumo on almost any terrain. It’s good on ghats as well as highways. It’s built for long distance travel, not for city commutes. There is no luxury about its performance. It makes noise when it runs up, but it won’t let you down on steep climbs or on long journeys. I don’t have its acceleration figures, but I have a hunch they are going to be abysmal. Don’t expect a racehorse out of Sumo. What you’re going to get is a rugged vehicle with the stamina to cross miles after miles, without too much showmanship. The ‘donkey’ vehicle, as I call it…
Safety Precautions
No special effort has been made to make this car ‘safer than the others’. No air cushions or anything… But TATA Sumo’s crumple zone is designed in such a way as to take maximum damage during a head on collision. Unless your collision was very high speed, I don’t expect you to get fatally injured in case of an accident. And very high means anything about sixty- that is the average speed at which the collision actually occurs.
Mileage
In the original review I had made a mistake. I had confused mileage figures of Tata Indica with Sumo. As pointed out by Jeevan in the comment section, I make the neccessary corrections now. I shall update this section of the review the moment the actual figures are available to me. Please give me a week's time. Thank you.
Notes
TATA Sumos tend to make a loud whistling noise when the brakes are applied after a long time. That happens because a minute gap is formed on the brake plates through which the air escapes with a very high speed. That sound indicates the need to show the brakes to the mechanic.
Some Sumos had a manufacturing defect. Their wheel alignment wasn’t proper. It did not cause any safety problems whatsoever. It only made driving a little difficult till you got used to the alignment.
Disclaimer: Both these notes were made from what I have heard but not directly experienced.
Experiences
I’ve toured extensively in the TATA Sumo. Here are some of my experiences in the jeep.
It took us without a hassle from Amravati to Akola (approx distance of about 250km) with only half a tank.
It climbed up the ghats of Dhoopgarh, Panchmarhi, with no trouble. We didn’t have to shift it to four-wheel drive.
We never had any backaches sitting in it for hours at a stretch. The longest we’ve travelled in the car in one go is 8 hours. We got off without any problem of sprained muscles. It doesn’t happen that way with other jeeps.
With the luggage of 7 people strapped to the carrier on the roof, the jeep was as stable as ever. There was no problem of tilting on sharp turns at high speeds.
The brakes of the car saved us a little away from the city of Akola from crashing into a bus that suddenly entered our lane. I think we’d come from 70km/hr to 0 within an amazing 10 metres. Sounds unrealistic? It did happen!
It’s rugged enough to negotiate the kuccha roads of the Kanha Wildlife Sanctuary.
Putting Things Together
TATA Sumo is not only a rugged SUV, but also a very comfortable one. It can take seven people (excluding the driver) with no problem at all. It has two front bucket seats, a broad seat-bench in the middle, and two small seats parallel to the car’s doors at the rear. One beside the driver, three in the middle, and three at the back can fit in easily. You can trust it to go reasonably long distances on low fuel reserves. You can negotiate tough terrain easily without compromising on riding comfort far too much (unless you want to do it at 150 km/hr. My advice- don’t).
I recommend this jeep. But for it’s unimpressive looks, I’m going to take one star off. And for its unimpressive acceleration, I’ll take another off. But it’s a great car!
